UNLESS Favorite 

UNLESS by Stephanie Cardon is a vibrant floor-to-ceiling installation that fills the main entryway of Boston’s landmark Prudential Center. Commissioned by Boston Properties and curated and produced by Now + There, UNLESS explores sustainability, climate justice, and how taking action together can create positive change. Through the use of bright colors, bold contrast, and strong shapes, UNLESS creates a striking visual interruption and moments of curiosity in a bustling marketplace.

Not unlike a banner drop, the piece overwhelmed the interior and exterior space of the Prudential entrance with a neon orange cloth, made of repurposed construction debris netting. The netting incorporated embroidered text from Pope Francis’ Encyclical letter, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, a 2015 call urging swift and unified global action towards climate justice.

The symbolic blue circle featured on the tapestry is repeated on the floor and staircase, juxtaposing the warm, welcoming glow, with a critical call to action — if everyone on the planet were to consume at the current US rate of consumption, the global population would require four earths to sustain itself. It’s time to think about the earth as a whole, as a common.

Passersby were encouraged to engage with the artwork in an immediate, personalized, and actionable way using a common marketing tool, a custom text messaging engagement program. The messages pushed to subscribers phones included content about how Boston is facing and addressing climate change, what defines climate justice.

This piece was fabricated collaboratively with people affected by climate change -- students displaced from Puerto Rico by hurricanes in 2017 -- and the Puerto Rican community of La Villa Victoria in Boston.